Urbanisation of farmland threatening food security: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday warned about the threat to food security posed by the rapid urbanisation of farmland, questioning how Pakistan would be able to feed the next generation.

Stressing the need for a holistic approach, the minister said “urban development is impossible with [the required] legislation and a national framework.

In this connection, Ahsan said a policy would be formulated [at the national level] in collaboration with the provincial governments to protect the farmland.

He was chairing the meeting of a committee formed to address the issue of mushrooming housing societies on the land used for farming as well as the natural habitat of flora and fauna, feeding the agriculture and sustaining the nature’s ecological system.

Ahsan mentioned the fact that the alarming rate of shrinking cultivable land and said turning the farmland for housing purposes was very disturbing.

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That’s why he asked whether the coming generation would have food security and ordered to focus on vertical expansion in Islamabad immediately.

LUST FOR HOUSING

Listing environment protection as a shared responsibility, the federal minister called for strict laws to stop tree-cutting.

“We are selling the future of our food through the indiscriminate use of land.”

The comprehensive commentary on urbanisation of farmland came as Pakistan, which is home to over 240 million people, is already witnessing food inflation amid purchasing power crisis at a time when climate has already been worsening the water scarcity issue.

Urbanisation of farmland threatening food security: Ahsan Iqbal

During the meeting, Ahsan noted that the environmental balance had been disturbed in Pakistan, as the “lust for housing” is annihilating the farmland.